The coastal forests of West and Central Africa harbor one of the world's most numerous and most diverse primate faunas; at the same time they are one of the most endangered of the world's major ecosystems. The need for conservation of tropical forests is balanced by a concern about the diminishing supply of non-human primates for biomedical research. Both needs require information on the status of specific forest ecosystems which will permit predictions to be made and used as a basis for management decisions. Demographic surveys of an area can give an idea of its species composition and density and can be carried out in a few weeks. But the assessment of the status of an ecosystem must be based on an analysis of the relationship between substrate and floristic composition, of the primate species' heterotropic relationships with the habitat, their relations with each other, and on seasonal and longer-term environmental fluctuations. Abundance, density and the status of populations must be related to specific environmental features and so permit quantitative predictions. Many tropical forests are rooted in nutritionally deficient, highly acid soils and the vegetation is invested with a formidable array of chemical defenses. While nutritional resources are clearly important, toxin distribution in the vegetation may be functional in determining the distribution and feeding strategies of primates. Data on floristic structure, regenerative patterns and the defense strategies of the forest, together with information on feeding strategies, distribution and dispersion of the primates can be used to construct predictive models of the ecosystem. Studies already carried out in Douala-Edea, Cameroon, have permitted the development of field techniques, mapping skills and methods of analysis. These will be further developed in the present study. The Korup Reserve, a potential Forest National Park is distinct geologically, floristically and zoogeographically from Douala-Edea; it also includes several seriously endangered primate species.